Eline Sakete as Empress.
"My destiny is immutable. Every thought I make is pre-determined, every breath I take further proof of my ascension. I raise my sword to the heavens and proclaim Valmasia as my own."
-Eline Sakete.
Eline Sakete, otherwise known as the Empress, was the leader of the Umbra Mortem and the spearhead of the army that conquered Valmasia by the year 742. This marked an end of two centuries of Melym rule and the splitting of villages to independant rulers, with the Empress as ultimate authority. Despite her monumental achievement, the Empress committed suicide with the unholy blade Durendal a few short years afterward. Scholars argue over the reasons to this date.
At the time of her death the Empress had reached an old age of 56. Despite this she remained the most powerful human being in Valmasia even in old age, ruling through sheer power and force of will rather than charisma. She is reputed to be the most powerful human occultist and spirit summoner to have ever existed.
Personality
Though her personality changed dramatically as she devolved into deeper insanity, there were a few facets that remained consistent for most of her time in Valmasia. Eline Sakete was a proud woman on the surface, yet for most of her life she harboured a feeling of overwhelming paranoia and insecurity. She was a woman who could never freely embrace death, and was always on the look-out for any whom could deal it to her. It was this insecurity that lead to the murders of individuals such as Zeke Stormbringer, Oswald North, Serra & Krystal and Kyle White. This insecurity vanished after her defeat of Judael Loki, a fact that may explain her suicide years later.
Notably, she has killed each of her apprentices by hand. The aforementioned Zeke and Kyle for the threat they might pose in the future, and later on the Ookami known as Mako. She also murdered her tutor and companion, Kaye Le'Dura, whom had helped keep the womans growing insanity in check for a number of years.
Her moods were flippant and prone to changing without much warning. The exception to this was when she spent almost two years locked up inside the Nostvale throne-room; the Empress emerged bright and chirpy with enough happiness to put a performing circus to shame. On the other hand she had been known to fall into violent outbursts and non-sensical rambling.
The only other consistant attribute of her persona was a firm belief in her destiny. Reinforced with every victory she held over the Melym's, Eline Sakete was convinced that she was destined to become something more than human, to ascend and lord over all the lands of Eternia. She frequently spoke of the threads of fate pulling her towards her goal, and the rules she wrote up for Valmasia upon her ascension were known as the Manifest Destiny Clause.
Abilities and Artifacts
Darkness Magic- The Empress was a master of the Occult, able to delve deeply into the twisted emotions that fuel the power of dark magic. In doing so, this also negatively impacted her personality, however. Her potential was held back by her human form, an imperfect container for occult magic as compared to a yokai. Nevertheless she was one of the most powerful occult magi in Valmasia history, contending for the top spot.
Spirit Summoning- Much like Durendal's previous wielder, Quorin Silvertongue, Eline Sakete maintained a mastery of the spirit realm, able to rip even the most powerful spirits from their restless slumber and bring them to serve once more. The exact prowess of her spiritual arts are uncertain as she rarely applied them.
Water Magic- Likely her second most powerful school, Eline Sakete was a master of water and able to harness the power to flood a small village. Tides answered to her call and she moved in a flurry of water projectiles. One notable application of water magic was destroying the potion shop of Ala and Xezbeth Eutrice with her husband Hakim Najeer, another master water magi, in a single attack.
Blood Magic- The weakest and least practised of her arts, yet still incredibly potent due to her sheer magical prowess. She never mastered blood magic to the point of being able to incapacitate, but the school was used to devastating effect when combined with her other talents.
Shadow Ghoul Command- One of the three gifts of Judael Loki. This granted Eline the ability to command the Shadow Ghouls whom had haunted a long-dormant Alteros, effectively giving her some military strength with which she might begin her campaign. The ability is superceded by Judael, and does not allow her to spawn her own shadow ghouls.
Tainted Arm- After losing her arm to the hellstrom fairy Kri'illu, Eline Sakete used half of the extremely potent dust and travelled to Lorlyn to seek out the most experienced alchemists and blacksmiths she could find. With plenty of crowns and patience she eventually managed to have a crude metallic arm furnished for her. It clicked with numerous gears but provided perfect movement. Another feature was that it enhanced her ability to channel darkness magic, allowing her to use the arm as a focal point to the powerful spell 'Shadow Cannon', which Eline infamously dubbed as her 'Execution Beam' for its ability to annihilate even hardened warriors and scores of mundane troops.
Damocles- The other half of the fairy dust was used in the development of the Damocles. With the assistance of Vincent Arreatt, a mine full of Arcanium and more fairy dust than had ever been in one place at a time, the scholar genius managed to complete the machine after several years in Umbra's thrall. It was a device which amplified the dark magics of Durendal and the Empress' own impressive occult energy, resonating across Valmasia. This was noticeable by humans whom often reported during this time of feeling dark desires or corruption clawing at their mind, but the real target were the yokai who were far more attuned. This machine was used to rally an army of yokai able to rival the Melym forces at Danarium, alongside the Oscuri and the Shadow ghouls. It now resides in Melym Tower, brought there by Demergo after the war. It is rumoured to be non-functioning at the moment.
Glaedr- A powerful ring forged by Kri'illu and later taken by Eline Sakete. It corrupts the wielder and speaks insanity to them, driving them in further into depravity; a part that Eline was already walking at this time. Not much is known about the ring other than that it was created by a fusion of fairies, and grants its wielder great darkness amplification.
Durendal- One of the three gifts of Judael Loki. With Durendal Eline was able to rally the villains of Valmasia, power the Damocles and convert several important allies including Uriel Melym. As a sword and a magical artifact it is rivalled only by Dawnbringer. For more information see Durendal.